The Emotional Show

Brian Zimmerman’s playful, surreal wooden sculptures explore human
fallibility in humorously composed situations. Zimmerman’s Weakness
presents the viewer with a moment of anxiety, a thin leg of a chair that
will certainly contribute to the chair’s demise if sat on. It is a powder keg,
and imagining the collapse which could happen at any moment makes
one bite their fingernails and sweat from the forehead. Zimmerman
writes “The chair is fulfilling its necessary base function. It is supporting
itself. It is only when we ask more of it, to support us, that it will fail.”
Leaning on vice can lead to a downfall, but here in Las Vegas, forgiving
or understanding weakness is the spirit of the city. Is weakness marginal
or more normalized than we give it credit for? Why do the weaknesses
of others cause anxiety? What is your thin chair leg?
A former assistant professor in sculpture at UNLV, Zimmerman is
based out of St. Louis, Missouri where he teaches sculpture at Webster
University.

(John McVay)